But with her suspicions of the former night, she had determined to watch the singular relative of her friend.

Added to a natural loyalty to the Lanes, she was moved by a certain curiosity and fascination towards this incomprehensible man.
The house was very quiet when she stole out of her room and passed softly along the corridor; she examined the wall carefully to discover anything that might have excited the visitor's attention.

There were a few large engravings hanging there; could he have designed to replace them by some others?
Suddenly she was struck with the distinct conviction that the wall of the corridor did not coincide with the wall of his room as represented by the line of the door.

There was certainly a space between the two walls unaccounted for.

This was undoubtedly what had attracted HIS attention; but what BUSINESS was it of his?
She reflected that she had seen in the wall of the conservatory an old closed staircase, now used as shelves for dried herbs and seeds, which she had been told was the old-time communication between the garden and Grandfather Lane's study,--the room now occupied by the stranger.
Perhaps it led still farther, and thus accounted for the space.
Determined to satisfy herself, she noiselessly descended to the conservatory.